MetaFilter posts tagged with jewish and judaismhttp://www.metafilter.com/tags/jewish+judaism
Posts tagged with 'jewish' and 'judaism' at MetaFilter.Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:04:45 -0800Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:04:45 -0800en-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss60Orthodox Jews organize against their former high schoolshttp://www.metafilter.com/160514/Orthodox%2DJews%2Dorganize%2Dagainst%2Dtheir%2Dformer%2Dhigh%2Dschools
<a href="http://yaffed.org/">Young Advocates For Fair Education</a>, or YAFFED, is an NYC-based advocacy group of Orthodox Jewish youth and young adults who<a href="http://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2016/6/21/orthodox-jews-organize-against-their-former-high-schools"> complain that their limited high school educations left them ill-equipped to support themselves as adults</a>, and demand that the New York City and New York State education departments enforce laws on minimum school standards. Recently the ED of YAFFED co-wrote an op-ed, <em><a href="http://forward.com/opinion/341055/why-do-jewish-leaders-keep-ignoring-ultra-orthodox-education-crisis/">Why Do Jewish Leaders Keep Ignoring Ultra-Orthodox Education Crisis?</a></em> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.160514Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:04:45 -0800showbiz_lizגם זו לטובהhttp://www.metafilter.com/155337/Sefaria
Judaism's core texts grew out of millennia-long conversations and arguments across generations, with interconnected dialogues, source citing and (re)interpretation. Now, it's all going digital: <a href="http://www.sefaria.org/">Sefaria</a> is creating a massive public domain, interactive "living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and translations." Their goal is to build a reference resource and community that "<a href="https://thetalmudblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/the-status-of-the-talmud-on-sefaria/">gives</a> a better learning experience than anything that comes before it," from ancient to modern texts and "all the volumes of commentary in between." Read <a href="http://www.sefaria.org/texts">texts</a>, browse submitted <a href="http://www.sefaria.org/sheets/tags">public source sheets</a> on dozens of topics or <a href="http://www.sefaria.org/explore">visualize associations</a> between texts. tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.155337Mon, 07 Dec 2015 18:54:08 -0800zarqReform Judaism Now the U.S.A's Most Trans-Inclusive Religious Grouphttp://www.metafilter.com/154474/Reform%2DJudaism%2DNow%2Dthe%2DUSAs%2DMost%2DTrans%2DInclusive%2DReligious%2DGroup
Today, the <a href="http://www.urj.org/">Union of Reform Judaism</a>, the body that represents synagogues in the Reform movement —Judaism's largest U.S. branch — <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/reform-jews-transgender-people-are-welcome-here/414415/">unanimously passed</a> the most far-reaching <a href="http://www.urj.org/what-we-believe/resolutions/resolution-rights-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-people">resolution</a> on transgender rights of any major religious organization. The resolution affirms the equality of transgender people and welcomes them into congregations, camps and other Reform Jewish institutions. "<a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2015/11/04/reform-jews-poised-to-pass-transgender-resolution">The resolution calls for Reform Jewish congregations and camps</a> to have gender-neutral bathrooms, encourages gender-neutral language at Reform Jewish institutions, suggests training on gender issues for religious school staff and encourages advocating on behalf of the transgender community."
"<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/reform-jews-transgender-people-are-welcome-here/414415/">The URJ is a loose network and organizing body for Reform synagogues,</a> so it hasn't mandated that local communities to adopt these measures. But it's a strong signal to the Jewish community: At least in our temples, the URJ says, transgender people will be fully welcome and accommodated."
Additional reporting from the <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/83cc1528adfb4c3fb330127d2282527a/reform-jews-poised-pass-transgender-resolution">Associated Press</a>, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/u-reform-jews-poised-adopt-sweeping-transgender-rights-130210656.html">Reuters</a> and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/11/05/us/ap-us-rel-reform-judaism-transgender-resolution.html">New York Times</a>
--
This past July, <a href="http://forward.com/articles/180303/first-generation-of-transgender-rabbis-claims-plac/">The Jewish Daily Forward profiled six rabbis and rabbinical students who identify as transgender</a> ("First Generation of Transgender Rabbis Claims Place at Bimah"), including two who were ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the seminary of the Reform Jewish Movement. Also from the Forward: <a href="http://forward.com/news/180503/new-generation-of-transgender-rabbis-ties-jewish-p/">"New Generation of Transgender Rabbis Ties Jewish Practice and Gender Change"</a> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.154474Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:31:22 -0800zarq"This is not a comfortable conversation."http://www.metafilter.com/153744/This%2Dis%2Dnot%2Da%2Dcomfortable%2Dconversation
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/first-person-michael-w-twitty-36-culinary-historian-and-food-blogger-from-rockville/2013/07/10/a9ac8d08-d91f-11e2-9df4-895344c13c30_story.html">Michael Twitty</a> is becoming one of the most transformative figures in the world of food. Reinterrogating and recreating African-American history in the context of American culinary history through his blog <a href="http://afroculinaria.com/">Afroculinaria</a>, Twitty argues for "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhxjC3XX54g">culinary justice</a>" in food writing and the conversation on food history. His project (and<a href="http://afroculinaria.com/michaels-forthcoming-book-the-cooking-gene/"> forthcoming book</a> of the same name) <a href="http://thecookinggene.com/about/">The Cooking Gene</a> is in part a product of his <a href="https://vimeo.com/80368155">Southern Discomfort Tour</a>, a journey retracing the preservation and transmission of culinary knowledge<a href="http://www.common-place.org/vol-11/no-03/twitty/"> before, during and beyond slavery.</a> Twitty brings attention to the underexploration of African-American food history, reframing it as not a <em>contributor to</em> but <em>a shaper of</em> American food history, and especially critiquing <a href="http://firstwefeast.com/eat/the-invisible-chefs/">its general exclusion from popular food narratives and culinary training.</a>
Twitty was named one of <a href="http://www.southernliving.com/travel/people-changing-south-2015/michael-twitty-africulinaria">Southern Living's 50 People Who Are Changing the South in 2015</a>. More on the Southern Discomfort tour in <a href="https://munchies.vice.com/videos/talking-southern-discomfort-foodcast-with-michael-twitty">this video interview</a>. <a href="http://www.ebony.com/news-views/interview-michael-twitty-searches-for-his-roots-on-southern-discomfort-tour#axzz3oHGdm2yC">Here, he tells Ebony</a> "I just love learning about history and the human journey through food." A <a href="http://forward.com/culture/211347/michael-twitty-black-jewish-foodie-talks-culinary/">convert to Judaism and a Hebraic studies teacher</a>, he tweets at <a href="https://twitter.com/koshersoul">@KosherSoul</a>. He's also got <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MichaelWTwitty">an active Facebook page.</a>
<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/129332/Inappropriate-and-hurtful-language-is-totally-totally-unacceptable">Previously on MetaFilter</a>, Twitty was discussed a bit when he weighed in on Paula Deen's exposure for racial discrimination with his <a href="http://afroculinaria.com/2013/06/25/an-open-letter-to-paula-deen/">Open Letter to Paula Deen</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.153744Sun, 11 Oct 2015 09:58:33 -0800MikoMeet Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Black Woman Theoretical Physicisthttp://www.metafilter.com/153120/Meet%2DChanda%2DPrescod%2DWeinstein%2DBlack%2DWoman%2DTheoretical%2DPhysicist
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/24/chanda-prescod-weinstein_n_7574020.html">Dr. Prescod-Weinstein</a> talks about her inspiration, teaching herself what she needed to know, how she keeps balance in her life, and being one of 89 black women with a physics Ph.D., and the only theoretical physicist. <blockquote>"All of these people around us, who are making sure that our working environment and our home environment function so that we can get work done, are part of the scientific process—and part of the activist process, in my case. So, I have to give them credit for that."</blockquote>
<blockquote>"But my dream is for Black children, and Native American children, and Latino children, and Asian children to be able to make the choices that White children seem to sometimes be able to make, which is that, "I'm going to think about this because it interests me." Not because, "I owe it to the community." Not because, "I see this problem in my community that doesn't get solved because of the color of our skin, so I'm going to try and solve it." But for them to say, "Hey, dark matter's a weird thing. Why don't I think about that?" I want everybody to have that equal opportunity to dream, and dream big, and not dream in the context of the duress of racism, and transphobia, and a host of other things."</blockquote> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.153120Fri, 18 Sep 2015 11:39:28 -0800Deoridhe"It was her debut... She wanted to do this."http://www.metafilter.com/151498/It%2Dwas%2Dher%2Ddebut%2DShe%2Dwanted%2Dto%2Ddo%2Dthis
<a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/192412/leaving-the-faith">'Leaving the Faith': Faigy Mayer's struggle in her own words</a>
<em><br>On Monday evening, a 30-year-old Jewish woman named Faigy Mayer fell to her death from a rooftop bar just one block from Tablet's offices in Manhattan. The event was reported as a suicide... At the very least, we hope that publishing this article under her byline enables Faigy Mayer to have something of a legacy—in her own words.</em> <a href="http://forward.com/opinion/312449/the-whole-orthodox-world-is-complicit-in-faigy-mayers-death/">The Whole Orthodox World Is Complicit in Faigy Mayer's Death</a>
<br><a href="http://nypost.com/2015/07/21/woman-who-leaped-to-her-death-from-rooftop-was-ex-hasidic-jew/">Parents shunned jumper for leaving Hasidic Judaism</a> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.151498Thu, 23 Jul 2015 18:39:21 -0800davidstandaford"I asked him a very old Jewish question: Do you have a bag packed?"http://www.metafilter.com/148036/I%2Dasked%2Dhim%2Da%2Dvery%2Dold%2DJewish%2Dquestion%2DDo%2Dyou%2Dhave%2Da%2Dbag%2Dpacked
<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/03/is-it-time-for-the-jews-to-leave-europe/386279/">Is It Time for the Jews to Leave Europe?</a> Accompanying video: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/387793/should-the-jews-leave-europe/">Should the Jews leave Europe?</a> "Atlantic editor in chief James Bennet moderates a discussion between national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg and contributing editor Leon Wieseltier."
William Saletan in Slate: <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2015/03/how_can_we_help_jew_s_stay_in_europe_despite_anti_semitism_jeffrey_goldberg.html">We'll Always Have Paris</a>
NPR <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/03/16/393284673/after-attacks-is-europe-still-safe-for-jews">interviewed Jeffrey Goldberg</a> regarding the story. He also recently <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/is-it-time-for-jews-to-leave-europe--414194243731">appeared on MSNBC</a> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.148036Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:12:13 -0800zarqSacred Trashhttp://www.metafilter.com/147381/Sacred%2DTrash
<a href="http://blog.longreads.com/2015/02/25/the-holy-junk-heap/">The Holy Junk Heap:</a> In 1896, a cache of manuscripts -- mostly fragments -- was discovered in the storeroom ("<a href="http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6582-genizah">genizah</a>") at the <a href="http://www.ask-aladdin.com/Egypt-Sites/Coptic-Monuments/benezra.html">Ben Ezra Synagogue</a> in Old Cairo. The collection <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Geniza">outlines a 1,000-year continuum</a> (870 CE to the 19th century) of Jewish Middle-Eastern and North African history and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/books/review/book-review-sacred-trash-the-lost-and-found-world-of-the-cairo-geniza-by-adina-hoffman-and-peter-cole.html?_r=0">comprises the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts in the world</a>, including Jewish religious texts such as Biblical, Talmudic and later Rabbinic works (some in the original hands of the authors), "letters, wills, bills of lading, prayers, marriage contracts and writs of divorce, Bibles, money orders, court depositions, business inventories, leases, magic charms and receipts" which give a detailed picture of the economic and cultural life of the North African and Eastern Mediterranean regions, especially during the 10th to 13th centuries. <strong>What's a Genizah?</strong>
According to Jewish tradition, sacred texts must be buried, not destroyed. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genizah">A genizah</a> (or geniza; Hebrew: גניזה "storage"; plural: genizot or genizoth or genizahs) is a storage area in a Jewish synagogue or cemetery designated for the temporary storage of worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics prior to proper cemetery burial. The <a href="http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6582-genizah">Jewish Encyclopedia</a> has more.
<strong>The Genizah Documents</strong>
* Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit. <a href="http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/genizah">High-resolution images and detailed descriptions</a> of more than 17,000 Genizah fragments with hundreds of new fragments uploaded each month. They also offer a <a href="http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/fotm/">fragment of the month</a> highlight.
Audio: <a href="http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/audioandvideo.html">"Life in Fragments: Stories from the Cairo Genizah"</a>, a 5-episode series for BBC Radio 3's 'The Essay'. The show features five researchers from Cambridge offering a personal take on life in Medieval Cairo.
* <a href="http://etc.princeton.edu/genizaproject/">The Princeton Geniza Project</a>. See <a href="http://etc.princeton.edu/genizaproject/index.php?proj_id=3&action=list_media&type=document">document transcriptions and translations</a>, and <a href="http://etc.princeton.edu/genizaproject/index.php?proj_id=3&action=list_media&type=image">images</a>
* The <a href="http://www.genizah.org/index_new.aspx">Friedberg Geniza Project</a> (requires registration, but manuscript samples can be seen <a href="http://www.genizah.org/Manuscript_Samples.aspx">here</a> without registering.) From 2013, a New York Times article: "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/world/middleeast/computers-piecing-together-jigsaw-of-jewish-lore.html">Computer Network Piecing Together a Jigsaw of Jewish Lore</a>," explains how the Friedberg computer project is, at a rate of 4.5 trillion calculations per second, trying to match up more than 320,000 genizah document fragments.
* <a href="http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/genizah/">Penn/Cambridge Genizah Fragment Project</a>: "A collaborative effort to reunite the contents of the Cairo Genizah in a single online presentation."
* <a href="http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/searchresources/guidetospecialcollections/genizah/">The Rylands Cairo Genizah Collection</a>: The <a href="http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/searchresources/imagecollections/university/genizah/">University of Manchester Library</a>'s LUNA system currently has <a href="http://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/ManchesterDev~95~2">more than 26,000 images online</a> from the Rylands Genizah Collection. (Click "browse all." on the right.)
<strong>Further Reading</strong>
* <a href="http://tabletmag.com/tag/cairo-geniza">Tablet Magazine's stories about the Cairo Genizah</a>. They <a href="https://vimeo.com/23488001">interviewed</a> authors Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole about their book on the Cairo Genizah, excerpted in this post's main link, entitled "<a href="http://knopfdoubleday.com/2011/05/09/sacred-trash-by-adina-hoffman-and-peter-cole/">Sacred Trash</a>" in 2011. Daniel Pipes' <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/10317/sacred-trash">review</a>. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/books/review/book-review-sacred-trash-the-lost-and-found-world-of-the-cairo-geniza-by-adina-hoffman-and-peter-cole.html?_r=0">New York Times</a>. <a href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/features/culture_view/lessons_holy_junk_heap">Jewish Week</a>. <a href="http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/86/buried-treasure/">Jewish Review of Books</a><em> (requires registration)</em>.
* <a href="http://library.lclark.edu/rabatgenizahproject/">The Rabat Genizah</a>, about a similar treasure trove <a href="http://tabletmag.com/scroll/176763/story-of-moroccan-jewry-now-available-online">discovered in Morocco in 2005</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.147381Thu, 26 Feb 2015 09:19:33 -0800zarq"What the hell am I going to do at home?"http://www.metafilter.com/145695/What%2Dthe%2Dhell%2Dam%2DI%2Dgoing%2Dto%2Ddo%2Dat%2Dhome
Len Berk, 84 years young, is <a href="http://forward.com/articles/211233/the-last-jewish-lox-slicer-at-zabars/">The Last Jewish Lox Slicer at Zabar's.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.145695Mon, 29 Dec 2014 07:55:25 -0800roomthreeseventeen"...no one talked about the real issue, the victims."http://www.metafilter.com/144234/no%2Done%2Dtalked%2Dabout%2Dthe%2Dreal%2Dissue%2Dthe%2Dvictims
<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/10/outcast-3">The Shame of Borough Park by Rachel Aviv <small>[The New Yorker]</small></a> After a child-molestation case, many leaders of the Hasidic community turned against the whistle-blower. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.144234Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:14:30 -0800Fizz"You don't understand, women are holier than men."http://www.metafilter.com/143114/You%2Ddont%2Dunderstand%2Dwomen%2Dare%2Dholier%2Dthan%2Dmen
<a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/185506/orthodox-man-refuses-to-sit-next-to-feminist-activist-on-airplane">"I'm not sure whether it mattered. One young man very kindly said to me, 'You don't understand, women are holier than men.'</a> I said, 'That's rubbish and it doesn't excuse the insult,' and then I added that I spent 13 years in yeshiva and there's nothing he could tell me that I haven't already heard. Then the original man, the one who refused to sit next to me, muttered to another man as he was walking away, 'She doesn't understand.' I said, 'I understand everything, and don't talk to me as if I'm not here.' He ignored me, and all the other men turned their backs and did not respond or even look at me." [<a href="http://www.jewfem.com/easyblog1/entry/my-book-tour-round-up-five-cities-in-four-states-in-ten-days">Similar version</a> at <i>JewFem</i> blog.] tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.143114Sat, 27 Sep 2014 11:47:19 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesomeEven the theme to Gilligan's Island? Yes.http://www.metafilter.com/142685/Even%2Dthe%2Dtheme%2Dto%2DGilligans%2DIsland%2DYes
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adon_Olam">Adon Olam</a> is a 12th century Jewish hymn traditionally sung at the end of Sabbath services in both <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlMBisoMfHU">Ashkenazic</a> and <a href="http://treeoflifemuseum.org/jewishvoicesofmaine/MJM/Adon%20Olam%20Sephardic%20melody.html">Sephardic</a> congregations. Maybe you've heard <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AmUdGb6eSM">Uzi Hitman's disco version</a>, which electrified the 1970's. But what may be most inspiring about the prayer is that it can fit to <a href="http://www.rahul.net/figmo/Olamni/">pretty much any melody</a>. Here it is to Pharrell's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtcpbwmRbac">Happy</a>. Here it is to Gilbert and Sullivan's <a href="http://www.bhbirochester.org/adon/modernMajorGeneral.mp3">Modern Major General</a>. Here's the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDRY9Q9sREY">Cups </a>song. Even <a href="http://adonolam.tumblr.com/post/41132561755/hi-everyone-i-havent-forgotten-you-the">Amazing Grace</a>.</a> Want to hear it done to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCo4X8NXAQI">Summer Lovin'</a> from the musical <em>Grease</em>?
How about <a href="http://youtu.be/HWUbK7V1-g8">Wish You Were Here</a>?
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QayRmjVTn9E">Royals</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrt1O7mZ5A0">Wrecking ball</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvBpucBJ8SI">I want it that way</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-jOkv5iZA">Save Tonight</a>
<a href="http://www.2kmusic.com/en/webvideo/debbiefriedman/DIvLFqGt7g0/shabbat-unplugged-bootleg-v1-3-15-adon-olam">Sloop John B</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G9YcD1abv0U">Stars and Stripes Forever</a>
Music Teacher Amichai Margolis <a href="http://adonolam.tumblr.com/post/41132561755/hi-everyone-i-havent-forgotten-you-the">did a new one a week</a>, sometimes with his students, including
<a href="http://adonolam.tumblr.com/post/39676310225/my-students-have-been-begging-me-to-do-this-melody">Call me Maybe</a>
<a href="http://adonolam.tumblr.com/post/32891474654/moadim-lsimcha-everybody-now-that-im-settling">Man of Constant Sorrow</a>,
Jason Mraz's <a href="http://adonolam.tumblr.com/post/27578637359/as-i-mentioned-in-yesterdays-post-this-adon-olam">I'm Yours</a>,
and oh yeeah, <a href="http://adonolam.tumblr.com/post/26660562977/here-we-go-people-since-i-couldnt-get-rocky-out">Survivor's Eye of the Tiger</a>
If you still want more, <a href="http://www.bhbirochester.org/adonOlam.html">here</a>'s a list with some sound files (including the theme to Underdog).
Here's how it sounds on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=78nGYFopaAI">Argentine charango</a>.
<a href="https://jewishtaunton.wordpress.com/tag/adon-olam/">More variations</a> from around the world.
Shabbat shalom! tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.142685Fri, 12 Sep 2014 10:01:08 -0800Mchellyבמביhttp://www.metafilter.com/134448/Bambis%2DJewish%2DRoots
<a href="http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/618/bambis-jewish-roots/">Bambi's Jewish Roots</a> c/o <a href="http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/was-bambi-jewish-91816.html">Cartoon Brew</a> tag:metafilter.com,2013:site.134448Wed, 04 Dec 2013 14:58:38 -0800overeducated_alligator"family, nationhood, verbal imperative, and accountability"http://www.metafilter.com/128492/family%2Dnationhood%2Dverbal%2Dimperative%2Dand%2Daccountability
<a href="http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=1332&fulltext=1">"Trading Faith for Wonder: On Judaism's Literary Legacy"</a>. The LARB reviews <a href="http://yalebooks.com/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300156478">Jews And Words</a>, by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger. <blockquote> father and daughter argue that the Jews are best understood as a people with a shared literary history. "Ours is not a bloodline but a textline," they proclaim. "Jewish history and peoplehood form a unique continuum, which is neither ethnic nor political." In other words, Jews are not first and foremost a race or a religion but a civilization, one linked by the texts they read, the stories they tell, and the history they've chronicled.</blockquote>
Reviwed also in <i>moment</i>: "<a href="http://www.momentmag.com/book-review-jews-and-words/"> The new book by Amos Oz and his daughter Fania Oz-Salzberger is not Jews and Words, it's jews and words. As we shall see, in this case—lower case—size matters.</a>"
<i>NPR</i>: "<a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/12/01/166014421/a-compelling-chutzpadik-history-of-jews-and-words">Oz, a professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, and Oz-Salzberger, a writer and historian at the University of Haifa, talk with NPR's Scott Simon about Jews and Words. The father-daughter team explain their ideas about "Jewish atheism," Judaism's evolving traditions and the origins of chutzpah.</a>"
<i>Haaretz</i>: "<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/culture/books/reading-between-the-lines-how-amos-oz-views-jewish-identity.premium-1.496643">Reading between the lines: How Amos Oz views Jewish identity</a>"
An <a href="http://yalebooks.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/on-the-tradition-of-jewish-humour-an-extract-from-jews-and-words-by-amos-oz-fania-oz-salzberger/">extract</a>, a <a href="http://books.google.com/books/yup?vid=ISBN9780300156478">sample</a> on Google Books</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2013:site.128492Wed, 29 May 2013 02:24:05 -0800the man of twists and turns"I am always the last person to eat."http://www.metafilter.com/127617/I%2Dam%2Dalways%2Dthe%2Dlast%2Dperson%2Dto%2Deat
David Arenberg on being <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2009/winter/a-jew-in-prison#.UYHBkIJAvho">the only Jewish inmate in a state prison.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2013:site.127617Wed, 01 May 2013 18:34:41 -0800reenumThe Mazel of the Irishhttp://www.metafilter.com/126069/The%2DMazel%2Dof%2Dthe%2DIrish
"<a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/03/17/174534358/erin-go-bragh-shalom-st-patricks-day-the-jewish-way?ft=1&f=1008">[The Loyal Yiddish Sons of Erin]'s biggest event was the annual Erev St. Patrick's Day Banquet</a>. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Gg9TFbaFQEkC&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=loyal+league+of+the+yiddish+sons+of+erin&source=bl&ots=bZPxl385yJ&sig=f-Z0Yxlxzc_sBmBl8EhS8dRj2G0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xxdGUY6pKIHC4APL94CYCA&ved=0CIMBEOgBMAk#v=onepage&q=loyal%20league%20of%20the%20yiddish%20sons%20of%20erin&f=false">It was a formal gala</a> at the Americana Hotel, complete with a big band, kosher corned beef and <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1908&dat=19670308&id=gEQrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XtQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4581,3211726">green bagels</a>." American-Irish-Jews still celebrate St. Patrick's Day:<a href="http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/2005/032405/mwmazel.html"> "It's an American-Irish holiday, surely not Jewish. It has nothing to do with Jewish people. But I'm Irish, and I have a feeling for it."</a> Today, Ireland's <a href="http://www.jewishireland.org/">Jewish community</a> is working to <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/irish-jews-face-uncertain-future-as-usual/">preserve</a> and <a href="http://vimeo.com/59596447">explore</a> its <a href="http://www.shalomireland.com/">history and future in Ireland</a>.
Although there is a <a href="http://www.jewishireland.org/irish-jewish-history/history/">long</a> <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Ireland.html">Jewish</a> <a href="http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/18906/jews-in-ireland-museum-tells-of-little-known-history/">history</a> in <a href="http://jewishmuseum.ie/">Ireland</a>, much of the <a href="http://www.irishjewishroots.com/">Irish-Jewish diaspora</a> can be traced back to a small population of <a href="http://www.hagalil.com/golem/diaspora/irland-e.htm"> Lithuanian Jews fleeing forced conscription in the Tzar's army in 1884</a>. By 1904 there were at least 3,000 Jews in Ireland. Throughout March and April, 1904, <a href="http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume12/issue2/features/?id=305">an anti-semitic priest incited boycotts and targeted violence</a> against Limerick's 170 Jews in what became known as <a href="http://politico.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6238">the Limerick Pogrom</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2013:site.126069Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:03:11 -0800ChuraChuraThe Shuls with Sandy Floorshttp://www.metafilter.com/125385/The%2DShuls%2Dwith%2DSandy%2DFloors
There are only five functioning Jewish synagogues with sand floors in the world, and four of them are in the Caribbean. <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/a-synagogue-drawn-in-the-sand-1.457357">How has the tradition been maintained for hundreds of years?</a> <u>The Five</u>
<strong>Shaare Shalom Synagogue</strong> (Kingston, Jamaica)
- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaare_Shalom_Synagogue">Wikipedia</a>.
- Article: <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/becoming-jewish-in-jamaica/">Becoming Jewish in Jamaica</a>. <em>"The first ordained rabbi in 40 years to serve the Shaare Shalom Synagogue of Kingston, Jamaica, has attracted to his conversion classes candidates who include descendants of its once much larger and thriving population."</em>
- Article: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703382904575059113221038280.html">Jamaica's New Tourism Spiel: Beaches and Reggae and Jews</a>
<a href="http://www.onepaper.com/synagogue/"><strong>Beracha Veshalom Vegmiluth Hasidim Synagogue</strong></a> (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands)
- <a href="http://www.synagogues360.org/synagogues.php?ident=united_states_017">Panoramic Photos</a>.
- <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/k4eyv/4809288048/">Photo of the sand floor</a>
<a href="http://www.snoa.com/snoa.html"><strong>Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue</strong></a> (Curacao, Netherlands Antilles)
- <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teckelcar/sets/72157604225729427/">Photos</a>. (Also known as the Snoa, it is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere, founded in 1651.)
<a href="http://www.suriname-jewish-community.com/our-synagogues.html"><strong>Neve Shalom</strong></a> (Paramaribo, Republic of Suriname)
- <a href="http://cdm.reed.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=exact&CISOFIELD1=site&CISOROOT=/jewishatl&CISOBOX1=Neve+Shalom+Synagogue+Complex%2C+Paramaribo%2C+Suriname">Photos</a>.
- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neveh_Shalom_Synagogue">Wikipedia</a>.
<strong><a href="http://portugesegemeente.nl/wordpress/?lang=en">Portuguese Synagogue</a></strong> Also known as the <em>Esnoga</em>. (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Synagogue_%28Amsterdam%29">Wikipedia</a>.
- <a href="http://www.synagogues360.org/synagogues.php">Panoramic Photos</a>.
- Video embedded <a href="http://portugesegemeente.nl/wordpress/?page_id=380&lang=en">here</a>.
<u>Why Sand?</u>
<i><blockquote><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/a-synagogue-drawn-in-the-sand-1.457357">A synagogue drawn in the sand</a>: The custom may have originated in Amsterdam, where sand was used to dry mud on people's shoes. The Esnoga synagogue was near the edge of town, where most of the streets were unpaved and, thanks to the weather, often muddy. It was, therefore, practical to line the floor in the synagogue with sand to keep it tidy. There are a number of churches and taverns in the Netherlands dating to the 17th century that likewise have sand floors. </blockquote></i>
<i><blockquote><a href="http://forward.com/articles/151799/synagogues-in-the-sand/">Synagogues in the Sand</a>: There are two theories about the origins of the synagogue's sand floor. One is that it symbolizes the desert through which Moses and the children of Israel wandered for 40 years. The other theory, considered by experts the more likely explanation, is that the floor harkens back to when Spanish Jews had to practice their religion in secret, meeting in cellars to pray.</blockquote></i> More: <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Curacao1.html">A Journey to Jewish Curaçao</a>. And a pdf article from Frommer's: <a href="http://frommerluxurytravel-arts.com/sanctuaries_in_the_sand.pdf">Sanctuaries in the Sand</a> tag:metafilter.com,2013:site.125385Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:48:04 -0800zarqReligion is based on the idea that God is an imbecile.http://www.metafilter.com/116933/Religion%2Dis%2Dbased%2Don%2Dthe%2Didea%2Dthat%2DGod%2Dis%2Dan%2Dimbecile
<a href='http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/50260/qa-noam-chomsky'><i>I talked with Chomsky about his upbringing in a Jewish home in Philadelphia by Cultural Zionist parents who devoted their lives to the revival of Hebrew language and culture, and about some of the strange bedfellows that he has acquired in five decades of impassioned crusading. I left his office with a sense of a specifically Jewish Chomsky that in three decades of engagement with his political writing, his academic work, and a few dozen of his radio appearances had never really struck me before, and now seems obvious and unavoidable.</i></a> tag:metafilter.com,2012:site.116933Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:51:33 -0800latkesGertrude Berghttp://www.metafilter.com/116600/Gertrude%2DBerg
Winner of the first Emmy Award for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, winner of a Tony Award in 1959, a <a href="http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/spring-2007/something-my-own.html">pioneer for women as writers and producers in radio and television</a>, and the <a href="http://www.paleycenter.org/she-made-it-screening-room?bcpid=326016176001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAADpP62yk~,CYkGoUDqnqXZnZDg7xHvtZof982CO3lz&bclid=541412530001&bctid=71694848001">inventor of the situation comedy</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Berg">Gertrude Berg</a> is - in the words of her film biographer <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwtJhlKW47k">Aviva Kempner</a> - "<a href="http://www.jewishjournal.com/film/article/before_lucy_and_oprahthere_was_gertrude_20090701/">the most important woman in America you never heard of</a>". The <a href="http://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22The+Goldbergs%22">Internet Archive</a> has several radio and television episodes of <em>The Goldbergs</em>.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af8UCkLU1kk">Here</a> you can see her in character on <em>What's My Line?</em>. tag:metafilter.com,2012:site.116600Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:18:15 -0800TrurlGray zone, schmay zonehttp://www.metafilter.com/113209/Gray%2Dzone%2Dschmay%2Dzone
<em>Almost immediately upon my arrival in my first teaching job, I became the go-to guy for the Holocaust. Of course, this was partly due to my dissertation, but in larger part, I suspect, because of my Jewishness. This was fine with me for a number of reasons. First, as a junior faculty member, this identification, though merely professional, could only help in my quest for tenure. An expert on the Holocaust carried infinitely greater weight, I thought, than an expert on ministerial instability during the French Third Republic.</em>
<br><br>
<a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/86456/dissolution/?all=1">Dissolution</a>: My life as an accidental Holocaust expert—and why I decided to quit tag:metafilter.com,2012:site.113209Sat, 25 Feb 2012 08:50:44 -0800timshelDentō!http://www.metafilter.com/98088/Dent
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSOXZrLadS0">Fiddler on the Roof, in Japanese.</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRmGtALYW5Y&feature=related">If I Were A Rich Man
</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIJcaJxuOgc&feature=related">To Life!
</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XPFhB9eY_I&feature=related">Matchmaker, Matchmaker
</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3slFq8ubq4&feature=related">Sunrise, Sunset
</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFIjzP9ZVLk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL">Tevye's Dream
</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4SPHUiiSng&feature=related">Do You Love Me?
</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgwFmvx9Z_8&feature=related">Far From the Home I Love
</a>
Happy Chanukah, everybody. tag:metafilter.com,2010:site.98088Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:21:06 -0800overeducated_alligatorI Will Survivehttp://www.metafilter.com/93610/I%2DWill%2DSurvive
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUvo5OHH6o8">Dancing Auschwitz</a>
<br><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-artist-defends-youtube-video-dancing-auschwitz-1.301096">"Jewish artist defends YouTube video 'Dancing Auschwitz'"</a> tag:metafilter.com,2010:site.93610Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:08:42 -0800andoatnpPeople of the (face)bookhttp://www.metafilter.com/90393/People%2Dof%2Dthe%2Dfacebook
<a href="http://blog.rabbijason.com/2010/03/is-facebook-chametz.html">Is Facebook <em>chametz</em>?</a> An interview with two rabbis about their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=151474345393">Facebook group</a>, encouraging Jews to consider giving up Facebook for Passover <a href="http://www.happypassover.net/passover-calendar.html">next week</a>. While the word <a href="http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/wizard_cdo/aid/1755/jewish/1-What-is-Chametz.htm">"<em>chametz</em>"</a> strictly refers only to leavened bread, which is prohibited during Passover, the group is inspired by a Chassidic interpretation that connects the leavening of bread to an "over-inflated sense of self." tag:metafilter.com,2010:site.90393Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:25:47 -0800albrechtHoly Nighthttp://www.metafilter.com/87771/Holy%2DNight
<a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2238708/">The little-known Jewish holiday of Christmas Eve. Seriously.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2009:site.87771Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:02:25 -0800andoatnpJewish Exorcismshttp://www.metafilter.com/87681/Jewish%2DExorcisms
"We got a bit excited because we realized that people have <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=CF1C84xHeucC&pg=PA307&lpg=PA307&dq=dybbuk+stories&source=bl&ots=CuduBy7v2R&sig=-S_35Ie7Mk2CwOxNlRe39-QLOV4&hl=en&ei=Co8vS4GKLMPHlAfSoeSUBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CC8Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=dybbuk%20stories&f=false">collected</a> lots of <a href="http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/dybbuk.html">dybbuk</a> stories, but <a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/121177/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailmarketingsoftware&utm_content=70945157&utm_campaign=December252009+_+kddkku&utm_term=Readmore">our fragment</a> describes a real event, where you see how they come together and pray in order to exorcise the ghost from a widow," <blockquote>"If a person practices "occult rites" and the content thereof is a mumble of strange words, bizarre costumes, or strange rites, it is either bogus or evil. It usually is bogus, but in those cases that he has tapped into these powers, it is evil for he has divorced it from God.
The great rabbis who performed supernatural acts, were using them to bring home a message about God. They enjoined people to recognize the Creator, develop their character, be kind to others, be honest and faithful, reign in their drives, etc. Understood in the larger context of God, Torah and morality, these unusual miracles were indeed Divine revelations."
- <a href="http://www.aish.com/sp/ph/48938547.html">Witchcraft* &amp; Judaism</a></blockquote>
*= 'witchcraft' in the sense of the Witch of Endor speaking with the dead. not a reference to European witches or modern Neopagans. tag:metafilter.com,2009:site.87681Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:27:33 -0800ServSci